Page 2 of The Devil's Fire

Then I finally realized who she was.

Michael moved in front of her, obscuring our view of each other before I could signal for her to come over.

“No one is to go near her.” I told my men firmly, and I received grumbled responses in return.

“That’s Althaia Volante.” I informed them, and everyone looked back at her in surprise.

I let out a low laugh, rubbing my jaw as my eyes never once left her.

Now, how the fuck was she alive and well, when the file clearly stated she died?

one

Althaia

I looked in the mirror and nodded in approval at my appearance. I was wearing a long black silk dress with a backless design, thin straps, and a deep V-plunge neckline that revealed quite a bit of my cleavage.

The dress was fitted at the top and gradually loosened at the hips, with a long slit on the right side, which stopped at mid-thigh. To complete the look, I wore open-toe black stilettos with gold ankle straps.

I did a simple brown smokey eye which complimented my green eyes and had them look a bit cat-like. I let my long, curly, and thick brown hair fall as it was but accessorized it with a sparkly hair clip to lift some of the hair away from my face on the right side.

“Get it together. What’s the worst that can happen?” I continued to fiddle with my hands before forcing them to remain still as I took a deep breath, building up the courage to leave my hotel room.

The worst that could happen was my father being angry at me for showing up and throwing me out…. My eyes widened and my face paled. I hadn’t thought that was a possibility until now.

I quickly shoved that thought away. I was here for Cara, not him, and there was no way I would let that stop me from attending her engagement party.

Cara and I have always been close since we grew up together in the same household, as our fathers were running a business together. Long story short, I found out that my father and uncle were involved in organized crime, and since they would always be busy, Cara spent time with me and my mother.

Sadly, Cara's mother died in childbirth, and my own mother raised Cara as if she were her own daughter. Aside from that, we were a happy family.

At least, that was what we thought.

There was stuff you didn’t notice because you were busy being a kid, right? So, as usual, Cara and I were nosy and tried to eavesdrop on my parents when it sounded like they were fighting one night. We had crept down the steps to get a closer look and listen to what was going on, but we couldn’t hear anything.

But what happened next shocked us both and had our jaws dropping to the floor.

My mother, Jacinta, slapped the fuck out of my father that night. We remained silent, stunned by what had just happened, before we ran back to our shared room and pretended to be asleep so we wouldn’t be caught snooping.

The next day, my mother had our bags packed, and we left. I remember crying so hard because Cara wasn’t coming with us. My mother tried to take her with us, but my uncle refused to let her go. It pained my mother to leave Cara behind, and I was sure she had her reasons why we had to leave.

The reason for that was still unknown though.

My father and I didn’t stay in touch after that, even though I tried to call him because I missed him, but he never once called me back. He then changed his number. Message received.

We moved to Florida while my father stayed in California. I met up with Cara whenever it was possible. However, it became more difficult for her to leave the house the older she was because her father turned insane, to put it mildly. He was always intoxicated with drugs and alcohol, and he turned into an abusive monster.

I wanted to get Cara out of there, to get her some kind of help, but she begged me not to do anything or to tell anyone what was happening. I couldn’t understand and became frustrated with her, but then my blood ran cold when she admitted her father wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if she tried to run away.

In fear of her life, I was forced to stay put and not to tell a soul about it.

So, to say that I was nervous to be around them all for the first time in forever was an understatement.

“… Don’t get sick.” I whispered to myself as I took a deep breath. I felt nauseous.

“Let’s go.” I sighed, finally working up the courage to get going, and I made my way down to the lobby.

Cara sent a car to my hotel to escort me to the mansion, my former home. My heart beat a little faster at the thought of going there after so long. So much has happened since the slap.

---